


First Time I saw You

by Oriondrago



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: Aloysius Fogg - Freeform, Background Clayton Sharpe/Aloysius Fogg, Clayton Sharpe - Freeform, Eugene Whitlock for half a paragraph lol, F/F, Matthew Mason - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-22
Updated: 2019-12-22
Packaged: 2021-02-25 23:54:09
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,422
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21893959
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oriondrago/pseuds/Oriondrago
Summary: If they hadn’t been the prominent business company of the area, she would have just ended the conversation and investigated other competitors. If she wanted to get the business up, the one her husband and her spoke of constantly, she needed to build the store in the first place.She caught the gaze of the young woman and any thoughts she had on the creation of schematics of the store she brought with her disappeared.
Relationships: Miriam Landisman/Arabella Whitlock
Kudos: 15
Collections: Yee-Hawligays Undeadwood Fic Exchange





	First Time I saw You

**Author's Note:**

> Done as a secret Santa work for Orion on the Undeadwood discord server, hopefully this is up to your interests! First time writing Miriam and Arabella, hoping I did good.  
> Prompt was Miriam/Arabella (or Aly/Clayton) and Modern au, first meeting. Never been too good at those, so I went for little snippets building to a relationship. Hope that's okay.  
> Plus one reference back towards Undeadwood the game, because I had to.

Miriam couldn’t help but shoot glances towards the other woman, half paying mind to the conversation of the room. The ones in charge, truly in charge from how they had taken over the conversation quickly. How they talked to her, sure, but still expected her husband to come into the picture, considering his name was still included on the business license. 

Older family lines just couldn’t get certain ideas out of their heads. It was easy to see the Livingstons as one, in the way both older members of the family held themselves and the way they spoke. They also seemed more interested in talking at her, not to her. If they hadn’t been the prominent business company of the area, she would have just ended the conversation and investigated other competitors. If she wanted to get the business up, the one her husband and her spoke of constantly, she needed to build the store in the first place.

She caught the gaze of the young woman and any thoughts she had on the creation of schematics of the store she brought with her disappeared. The woman hadn’t said a word since introducing herself, with her parents immediately taking control of the conversation. Arabella Livingston, holding her husband’s arm, even as she stared back towards Miriam. The other people in the room could be wall furniture, for Miriam was captivated on the vivid look Arabella caught her in. 

And then Arabella’s husband tugged her arm, breaking the gaze with a flinch that didn’t take much for Miriam to guess what it was about. But the moment was over, the rest of the night with Miriam sneaking side glances to an unresponsive woman on the other side.  
\---

She had her schematics for the door spread all over the café table when a coffee cup made its way in front of her. Miriam took the moment, carefully cleaning up her papers to assure they wouldn’t be ruined before the next discussion, before looking up. It didn’t take much to locate the woman half-sitting on the table, smiling slyly at her. Fiery red hair tossed all over her face like she didn’t come running from somewhere else just to get this opportunity.

“Is this yours or mine?” Miriam tilted her head, taking the moment to look at Arabella now that they were in public. Unlike the clothes she wore for show, Arabella was dressed casually. Miriam suddenly couldn’t think of her in another other way. The clothes just seemed to suit the other woman, much better than what she had been previously wearing. 

“I uh, didn’t know what you’d like so…” Miriam threw her a small half smile, nodding towards the open chair as she moved the drink up to figure out what was in it. Coffee, more bitter than sweet, met her tongue and she tried to even out her reaction. It was a nice gesture; one she hadn’t been expecting. But it didn’t mean it was something she’d order herself. 

“You’re very kind” she set the coffee back down, leaning forward in her chair as Arabella sits almost sideways on her chair, looking like a sudden breeze would throw her off. Something in Miriam told her the woman would keep her balance easily. “Thank you”

“It’s all I could do, considering the other night” Miriam’s thoughts immediately drift back to the intense stare, how she wanted a private moment to learn more about Mrs. Livingston.

“It’s quite alright, darling. I understand” She really doesn’t if she’s being honest, she’s always been in good with her husband. They’ve always had similar goals, able to speak to each other with an ease that she suspects Arabella will never have. “Marrying for the family’s benefit and all that”

She doesn’t mention that she never came from money-that she would never understand coming from an older home, she’s just seen the examples of such-

“You could…you could say that” Arabella Whitlock is a married woman, but Miriam feels like she shouldn’t be letting go of the woman just yet. 

“I’ll tell you what,” she picks up the cup again, taking a long drink even as it burns from the sudden decision. “How about we go out for more than coffee and trade a few stories?”

“I’d like that”  
\---

An occasional event becomes almost daily within a few weeks, and Miriam can’t say she doesn’t love the change. Some nights they spend talking about the plans she has for the store, what items she’s going to sell. Miriam slyly dodges the question of where she’s going to get such supplies, turning the conversation towards asking what the town might need. It’s easier to make a business when you know what people want, she says instead. There are a few other jokes, the both still treading lightly over paths they fear might be too close to the line. 

There’s one night, a late dinner, that they simply chat, talking about the backgrounds of their families and where they had come from. Miriam doesn’t know too many things about the woman she shared a name with, the original Miriam kept records, but somewhere down the line a descendant apparently decided some records didn’t need to be kept. What remained was a short letter, one without a sending speaking about the death of a friend by the hands of someone she once thought of as a friend as well. The Livingston’s have almost all the records intact, she learns, listening to the information Arabella managed to gather. Some records the younger woman complains about, with knowing that they were purposely destroyed. Clearly her family didn’t let traits of the original Livingston woman to come to light.

She spends the rest of the night in a blur, as a few glasses of drink turn to a few more, and a few more. Miriam faintly remembers pulling Arabella to her feet, fussing that the younger woman had more energy than herself. Somehow, they got a driver to take them home, as buzzed as they both are, and manages to give her own address when Arabella fails to produce her own. 

In the morning, she’s surprised to see the younger woman sleeping on the bed beside her, hair a mess all about as Arabella continues snoring into the pillow, moving to hug it tighter. It doesn’t take long for Miriam to notice the clothes both are still wearing are the ones from last night, that they clearly passed out before they could even find appropriate clothes to change into.

She decides, when she’s gotten done with showering and is making coffee for herself since she doesn’t know when Arabella wakes up, that she’s just going to see where this goes. She enjoys Arabella’s company, and certainly wouldn’t deny the enjoyment she has when they get together. She still misses her husband, and Arabella is still married, even if she knows the other woman is not happy about it.  
So she says nothing, handing the fresher coffee off to Arabella when the woman finally gets up and going back to her own. 

She won’t admit to growing fond of the less bitter, slightly sweet taste of the coffee the other first gave her.  
\---

“I ended it” The shop is almost complete and Miriam has everyone in their group helping to move the crates of supplies around. Even if she expects there to be an organizational disaster. So far she’s seen Clayton fall on his ass twice while lifting boxes. Thankfully Aly helped him up, but she worries about the items within it. 

But it leaves her at peace to talk and even have a private moment with Arabella as she works on the register.

“Pardon?” the roll of change gets set aside as Miriam turns to face her. Arabella is close to her, and she already has a few ideas what that could mean. But she still wants to hear it. She thinks she might finally be ready for what it implies, anyway.

“I divorced Eugene” Arabella looks so excited, and she can’t help the excited smile that she catches on herself. “I want something different” 

“As in?”

“I don’t know yet. Maybe I’ll work for a store until I figure that out”

“You’re welcome to work here”

“I was hoping you’d say that” Arabella pulls her into a kiss, one she is thankful for finally happening. She can hear the boys commenting and cheering about it, but Arabella has the grace to keep her occupied more than ruin the moment with the yelling.


End file.
